Angkor Resources Corp has announced exploration on its 100%-owned Andong Meas license in Cambodia has assayed 450 ppm in soils of Rare Earth Elements (REE) at the Gossan Hills Prospect.
The Company identified the Gossan Hills prospect on the Andong Meas license over the past several months. Angkor said the initial assays on soil geochemistry indicated the presence of REEs on the prospect with sums up to 450 ppm in selected areas.
Dennis Ouellette, VP of Exploration comments on the mineralisation, “It appears that the REE mineralisation is replacing metamorphosed carbonate rocks adjacent to intrusive granodiorite. The initial numbers of the 17 REE’s (Total Rare Earth Oxides) sum over 450 ppm with Scandium adding over 200 ppm. Worthy of consideration, thresholds of 500 ppm, have in some cases become commercially viable in areas of China where the REEs are close to surface and located in easily-recoverable medium like laterites, on top of diorites and syenites. Specific REE’s can be extremely valuable so small amounts can generate significant returns.”
The next steps will be to complete a full correlation coefficient on the results from the REE initial analysis. The elements that have a strong association with REE can also be sourced elsewhere on the prospect. The correlating elements may lead to other areas, yet untested for REE. A grid mapping survey has recently been completed on the prospect and that will be cross checked for this soil geochemistry. It would determine if and where areas from the grid display anomalous values of such identifying elements.
Previous Induced Polarization (IP) and magnetic survey over Gossan Hills is currently being re-processed which will assist in developing a useful new profile for the area. Further exploration for REE specific zones will be applied and identification of the source rock will become follow-up steps.
Delayne Weeks added, “This presents a very new and exciting development. We now need to determine if areas on Andong Meas have sufficient commercial quantities of specific high-value REE’s.”
A follow-up program across the prospect is being outlined for further exploration over the upcoming months.
Angkor Resources Corp. is a public company, listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange, and is a leading resource optimizer in Cambodia with multiple licenses in NE quadrant of the country. In 2020, the company received approval and initiated negotiations on Production Sharing Contract (PSC) terms for Block VIII, a 7,300 square kilometre oil and gas license in Cambodia. Junior Mining Network.com
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
